It's Not Just Personal

The final report of the Committee to Address Alcohol and Health at Harvard sent two important messages to the Harvard community: first, excessive drinking diminishes our community; second, it takes an effort by the entire community to address excessive drinking. The first section of the report focused on the most dangerous types of alcohol abuse, including drinking that leads to alcohol poisoning or death, as well as serious alcohol dependence. In this report the term dangerous drinking includes a broad range of drinking behaviors from sporadic binge drinking to chronic alcohol dependence. As the committee notes, dangerous drinking can lead not only to alcohol poisoning and death, but also contributes to sexual assault, rape, violence and serious accidents. Surveys conducted at Harvard in the past support this observation—40 percent of students report doing something while drinking that they later regretted.

While the adverse consequences of dangerous drinking are clear, formulating an effective response has been daunting here as well as at other universities. The College community operates within certain constraints, however unwelcome (i.e. the drinking laws), which inevitably limit our options to be constructive in a collaborative manner. It is important to understand that these constraints are applied to the entire community, not only students. Nevertheless, Harvard has succeeded, both in policy and practice, in communicating that students can seek medical assistance for themselves or a friend without fear of disciplinary action. Harvard University Health Services views the increase in number of students seeking treatment for acute alcohol poisoning as a sign that students are learning to seek medical attention for potentially life threatening situations. A follow-up appointment with their primary care physician allows students to learn more about how alcohol affects their physical and mental health. Beyond communicating to students that there will be no disciplinary action if students seek help, education and outreach to the entire community regarding drinking is essential.

In order for education, outreach and early interventions to be effective, the entire community must reach a consensus about how we view drinking. Simply put, to change each individual’s attitude from, “It is ok to get drunk, just don’t get in trouble” to one of “excessive drinking diminishes the community” requires active participation on the part of every member of the community—students, faculty and coaches, and administration. All students, including those who don’t drink (estimated to be 20 percent) or those who don’t binge drink (40 percent), need to be heard and allowed to make clear their views about excessive drinking at Harvard.

Our initial efforts at education must focus on developing a consensus among all these constituencies about how we view dangerous and excessive drinking. In a community consensus-building effort, each of us must be willing to meet and discuss openly and honestly our attitudes and beliefs about drinking. Furthermore, the success of building this consensus depends on our openness to compromise, so that we can accept common definitions of excessive drinking and the role of the community in addressing this problem. All of us are responsible for being attuned to one’s social and emotional needs; responsible for respecting the well-being of others; responsible for respecting the constraints of the community. Only then will we have a community willing to actively participate in other educational and outreach efforts and to foster the safe and responsible use of alcohol.

The University is committed to creating a new position for an expert who can lead this effort. A search for that person will begin immediately, and the entire community should feel confident that we will recruit an outstanding candidate who will be attracted by the desire and commitment of the Harvard community to address these issues in a creative and effective manner that demonstrates the best qualities of our students, faculty and administration.

David S. Rosenthal ’59 is director of Harvard University Health Services. Paul J. Barreira is director of Mental Health, Alcohol and Counseling Services.